Later on in the interview, Patrick rebuked the criticisms launched his father’s way in regards to Brian’s decision to march in the Gay Pride Parade during the opening of unrestricted free agency on July 1st.

The Pride Parade was on July 1st. That was the first day of free agency, and now we’re seeing some random idiots who are using that to say that my dad wasn’t doing his job. If you want to criticize moves that the Leafs have made or haven’t made over the past few years, that’s fine. That’s how sports works. That’s what the media and the fans are there for, to say ‘I don’t like this trade, I don’t like that trade, I like this signing, I don’t like that signing.’

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But for anyone to use You Can Play and to use Toronto Pride as a means to criticize the Maple Leafs and my dad and the job that’s being done there is just over the top in its ignorance. It shows that they’re not paying attention to how much he cares. It shows that they’re now aware of how cell phones work if you needed to be in touch with somebody. It shows they’re not aware of how great of a support staff the Toronto Maple Leafs have with Dave Nonis and Dave Poulin and the rest of them there. It shows they’re not aware of how free agency works.

These players don’t get on the phone and get recruited by a GM for hours and hours on July 1st. The GM calls the agent and says, ‘Hey. We want to sign Steve. We’ll give him two years at $2 million.’ and the agent says, ‘Well he’ll go there, but it’s got to be three years at $2.5 million.’ and they say ‘Ok. Done.’ That’s it, with the exception of the occasional big guy who does recruiting trips and that type of stuff. These contracts get done in a matter of minutes. All you need to know is what that guy’s price range is. Anyone who’s using this to criticize the Maple Leafs is just embarrassing himself.

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Alec Brownscombe is the founder of MapleLeafsHotStove.com, where he has written daily about the Leafs since September of 2008. He was also the editor of the 2009-13 Maple Leafs Annual magazines. You can contact him at [email protected]